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HORACE GREELEY MEMORIAL COMMITTEE 

JOHN I. D. BRISTOL. President. JACOB P:RLICH. Treasurer. 

VICTOR GUINZBURG. Vice President. EDWIN BEDELL. Secretary. 

MORGAN COWPERTHWAITE HIRAM F. MANVILLE 
GEORGE HUNT A. H. SMITH 

WILBUR HYATT L. O. THOMPSON 

GEORGE D. MACKAY ALBERT TURNER 

JOHN McKESSON. Jr. 



Sketch of the Life of 



HORACE GREELEY 



With Brief Extracts from His 
Writings and Biographical Notes. 



BY JACOB ERLICH. 



Published by 

THE CHAPPAQUA HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

Chappaqua, Westchester Co., N. Y. 

FEBRUARY 3, 1911. 



■\/'\ 



<A 



%' 




BIRTHPLACE OF GREELEY 



CENTENARY 



OF 



Horace Greeley, 



February 3, 1911. 




HORACE GREELEY. 



*5 <1 I -^ ' 



'4. 



I 



HORACE GREELEY 

" I send thee, Greeley, words of cheer, 

Thou bravest, truest, best of men; 
For I have marked thy strong career, 

As traced by thine own sturdy pen. 
I've seen thy struggles with the foes 

That dared thee to the desperate fight, 
And loved to watch thy goodly blows. 

Dealt for the cause thou deem'st the right. 

" Thou'st dared to stand against the wrong 

When many faltered by thy side; 
In thy own strength hast dared be strong. 

Nor on another's arm relied. 
Thy own bold thoughts thou'st dared to think, 

Thy own great purposes avowed : 
And none have ever seen thee shrink 

From the fierce surges of the crowd. 

" Thou, all unaided and alone, 

Didst take thy way in life's young years, 
With no kind hand clasped in thy own. 

No gentle voice to soothe thy tears. 
But thy high heart no power could tame. 

And thou hast never ceased to feel 
V\^ithin thy veins a sacred flame 

That turned thy iron nerves to steel. 

" I know that thou art not exempt 

From all the weaknesses of earth; 
^ For passion comes to rouse and tempt 
The truest souls of mortal birth. 
But thou hast well fulfilled thy trust. 
In spite of love and hope and fear ; 
And e'en the tempest's thunder-gust 
But clears thy spirit's atmosphere. 

" Thou still art in thy manhood's prime. 
Still foremost 'mid thy fellow-men, 
Though in each year of all thy time 

Thou hast compressed threescore and ten. 
Oh, may each blessed sympathy. 

Breathed on thee with a tear and sigh, 
A sweet flower in their pathway be, 
A bright star in thy clear blue sky." 

— George D. Prentice. 



This booklet is presented to you with the compliments of 
the Treasurer. If you desire to contribute anything to honor 
the memory of Horace Greeley {a dollar or inore)^ kindly mail 
check to Jacob Erlich, 40 West 20th Street, New York, N. Y. 
The fuftds will be devoted to the completiojt of the ''''Greeley 
Memorial'''' at his old home in Chappaqua. 



PREFACE. 

THIS brief story of the life of Horace 
Greeley was prepared in response to 
many requests from the schools. Mr. 
Greeley's active career covers a period 
of more than forty years, and would require 
volumes to do his life's work justice. 

The Celebration of the Hundredth Anniver- 
sary of his birth will revive useful lessons and 
stimulate our youth to emulate the noble 
virtues and heroic patriotism of a great char- 
acter in our country's history. 

JE. 

Chappaqua, N. Y., 

February, 1911. 



THE event of the Hundredth Anniversary of the birth of Horace 
Greeley calls forth the memory of one of America's illustrious 
men. Poor Farmer's Boy, Printer, Editor, Journalist, Author, 
Lecturer, Statesman, Anti-Slavery Leader, Philanthropist, and 
Candidate for the Presidency. Born in Amherst, New Hampshire, 
February 3, ISU, on his father's farm. The father of Horace Greeley 
was Zaccheus Greeley ; the mother Mary Woodburn. 

Greeley's life, it has been said, "is one that every American boy 
should know. He will find inspiration in it to fight his way against 
the difficulties in his path, and it will furnish him with an example 
of what industry, temperance, principle and steadfast courage can 
accomplish. Not everyone has the natural ability of Horace Greeley, 
for he was a man of genius, and that means only one out of a great 
multitude; but the principles of conduct which governed him are 
equally applicable to every other farmer's son — equally desirable for 
all boys who have their own way to make in the world." 

The family was very poor and all had to join in the farm work. 
His mother, in addition to doing her housework, did spinning and 
weaving and helped rake and load hay ; during her work she would 
sing and tell stories which aroused the interest of young Horace. 
She was a woman of beautiful character and was her son's inspiration. 
When Horace was five years old, he would ride the horse to plow 
before going to school, this and other duties cut down Horace's school 
attendance considerably. He was a precocious lad, who spent all 
his spare time reading, and read books at four years of age. The 
school he attended was a one-story, unpainted structure. He was 
a good speller and an able debater, and always came out ahead at 
spelling matches and in debate. Evidently the Village Blacksmith 
saw promise in Horace, as he offered to apprentice him in his shop, 
but Horace said "he intended to become a printer." Witb^all the 
hard work of the Greeley family in Amherst, farming resulted in 
failure and they were compelled to leave : they then tried their luck 
at Westhaven, Vermont. 

EAGER FOR KNOWLEDGE. 

Horace borrowed books everywhere and read every newspaper he 
could get hold of. One day he came across an advertisement for an 
apprentice in a newspaper office in the town of Whitehall, N. H., where 
he went accompanied by his father. This was in 1822. Horace was 



then only eleven years old and was not accepted because of his youth. 
He went home downcast and sorrowful. No new opportunity for em- 
ployment presented itself until the spring of 1826, when an apprentice 
was advertised for by the Northern Spectator, East Poultney, Ver- 
mont. He footed it from Westhaven and secured the job. For the 
first six months he worked for his board and then he received forty 
dollars per year and board. Here he remained about four years. 
Among the memorable incidents of his East Poultney sojourn was the 




HORACE GREELEY'S FIRST SCHOOL HOUSE 



case of a fugitive slave, which made an indelible impression on his 
mind. In a neighboring New York town a young negro had run away 
from his master and sought refuge in this village. The slave was at 
work when his master arrived to reclaim him. Everybody was must- 
ered into service — young Horace foremost in the fight — to resist the 
return of the slave. The master had to leave without his slave. This 
was the beginning of Greeley's attack on slavery, which never ceased 
until slavery was no more. He was one of the most effective cham- 
pions of the cause of freedom. He fought for emancipation till every 
slave was free. 

MEMORY FOR FACTS. 

During his stay at East Poultney, he made a distinct reputation 
for learning, of which the following reminiscence related by a dis- 
tinguished New York physician, is an illustration: 

"I went to the tavern, put up my horses, and went in to dinner. 



There were a good many people present, the sheriff of the county, 
and an ex-Member of Congress included. I had scarcely begun to eat 
when my eyes rested upon so singular an object that the morsel re- 
mained suspended on my fork — I could do nothing but stare. It was 
a tall, pale, white-haired gawky boy seated at the further end of the 
table. He was in his shirt-sleeves and eating with a rapidity and 
awkwardness I have never seen equalled. He never looked up, nor 
seemed to pay the least attention to the conversation, which was be- 
coming quite animated. Some measure of an early Congress had 
been mentioned and a question had arisen how certain members had 
voted on its final passage. The sheriff, to my boundless astonish- 
ment, referred the matter to the Greeley boy, saying, 'Ain't that 
right, Greeley?' 'No,' said he, without ceasing to eat for an instant. 
'Ha,' chimed in the ex-Congressman, 'what did I tell you? I knew 
I was right.' 'No,' said the gawky boy, 'you're wrong, too.' Then 
he laid down his knife and fork and gave a history of the measure 
from its inception to its passage, detailed the state of the parties at 
the time, stated the vote in dispute, and named the leading speakers 
for and against the measure. I listened open-mouthed, but what 
surprised me most was that the company received it as pure gospel 
and as settling the matter beyond dispute. I never met him again 
until he was the famous editor of the Tribune." 

Greeley was with the Northern Spectator four years, until it dis- 
continued: he then had to look for work elsewhere. Till this time he 
had never owned an overcoat, but when he was about to leave East 
Poultney, his friends there presented him with a second-hand overcoat. 
A long journey on foot never troubled Horace very much. Twice dur- 
ing his apprenticeship he visited his father's family in Peoria, Illinois, 
between five hundred and six hundred miles distant, walking a great 
part of the way. His next employment was at Lodi, New York, where 
he received eleven dollars per month, and then at Erie, Pennsylvania. 
He would visit his parents whenever possible and invariably divided 
his earnings with them. 

STARTS FOR NEW YORK. 

Finally he determined to turn his steps toward New York. It 
was now the spring of 1831. He started by way of the Erie Canal 
boat and Hudson River boat, walking much of the way. He was 
twenty years of age when he arrived at the Battery, August 17, 1831, 
rural looking, indeed. Two rules of his life had already been formed. 
They were the non-use of intoxicants and tobacco. He had ten dollars 
in his pocket and a scanty wardrobe; he obtained board at two and a 
half dollars a week and immediately started to look for employment. 
At the Journal of Commerce office, the editor plainly expressed his 
conviction that the applicant was a runaway apprentice, and would 

9 



not give him work. Horace was about to return home when someone 
told him about a position which he secured, earning about five or six 
dollars a week. 

He experienced many hardships in his early struggles in New 
York City, as elsewhere, but with all he succeeded in making a 
reputation in the newspaper world. After he had been in New York 
about three years he was invited by James Gordon Bennett to become 



il.;J?j.:^tLOTtt 







YOUNO GUDULKY S .\1;I;|VAL IN SEW Vl)l:K. 



a partner in starting the New York Herald. This offer was declined, 
as he was bent upon publishing a newspaper entirely under his own 
control, and on March 22, 1834, the New Yorker appeared. He is- 
sued this paper for about seven years. While thus occupied he was 
asked by Wm. H. Seward, Thurlow Weed, and other leading men of 
the time, to edit a campaign paper. The Log Cabin, at Albany. 
Mr. Greeley divided his time between New York and Albany. The 

10 



effective campaign carried on by Mr. Greeley in the Log Cabin did 
much to win William Henry Harrison the election to the presidency. 
These newspapers made Mr. Greeley known, and gave him consider- 
able distinction and prestige. 

The next important event in his life was his marriage on July 
5, 1836, to Miss Mary Cheney, a school teacher. 

In Mr. Greeley's paper The New Yorker, there appeared, March 
18, 1837, a report of a meeting called at City Hall Park to consider the 
"high prices of the necessaries of life. " 

In 1838 The Jeffersonian appeared, edited by Horace Greeley. 

TRIBUNE PUBLISHED. 

On April 10, 1841, he published the first number of The 
Tribune, a daily with only a few hundred subscribers; it 
grew from week to week, and it was not long before it 
became an important factor in American life. In political matters 
Mr. Greeley was farseeing, fearlessly honest in the expression 
of his convictions, and was an opponent of the spoils system. He 
made the Tribune a great power. Greeley had entered upon his 
thirty-first year when the first number of the Tribune appeared. 
Charles A. Dana, Whitelaw Reid, George Ripley, Sidney H. Gay, 
George William Curtis, Henry J. Raymond, John Russell Young, 
Richard Hildreth, John Hay, Edmund Quincy, Bayard Taylor, George 
W. Smalley, William Winter, Albert Brisbane, Moncure D. Conway, 
Margaret Fuller and others who have become famous in journalism 
and literature, were associated with him on the Tribune. 

In his "Recollections of a Busy Life" we read from his own pen: 
"Fame is a vapor, no man can foresee what a day may bring forth, 
while those who cheer to-day will often curse to-morrow, and yet 
I cherish the hope that the Journal I once projected will live and 
flourish long after I shall have mouldered into forgotten dust, and 
the stone which covers my ashes may bear to future eyes the still 
intelligible inscription "Founder of the New York Tribune." In front 
of the present Tribune building can be seen a life-size bronze sitting 
figure inscribed "Horace Greeley, Founder of the Tribune." 

He had good cause to be proud of his achievements. He made the 
Tribune the forum for the impartial discussion of great moral ques- 
tions. He discussed Fourierism and emphasized such portions of that 
doctrine as would enable the people to procure land for settlement and 
development, and which treated of co-operative enterprise. 

The sincerity of Greeley's advocacy was shown by his making 
the Tribune a stock concern and dividing his shares with his editors 
and other assistants on the Tribune. 

He also made the Tribune noted as a vehicle for scientific infor- 
mation. He published the lectures of Professor Agassiz and of other 

11 



scientists and was the first American journalist who recognized the 
genius of Charles Dickens. Dickens's writings were published under 
the nom de plume "Boz" in the Tribune long before he became famous 
in America. "Barnaby Rudge" and "Little Dorrit" were published as 
serials in the Tribune. 

Greeley utilized the press and the platform as a noble means to 
accomplish his educational designs by a direct appeal to the people; 
he was a firm believer in the efficacy of an enlightened public opinion, 
and in this he was a true disciple of Jefferson. In all his editorial 
writings the reader felt that he was the object of the editor's per- 
sonal exhortation; his language was always so simple, so direct, so 
evidently springing from an honest conviction, that his heart to 
heart appeal could not fail of a sympathetic response. 

Of Greeley's style it has been aptly said: 

"It is doubtful if he ever penned a line merely for rhetorical 
effect, and he has only written when he had something to say. He 
has covered a wide field of discussion, including politics, history, 
political economy, agriculture, science, morals, literary criticism, and 
even religious controversy; and on all these subjects he has shown 
much keenness of thought. His style is strong, concentrated, and 
Saxon, sometimes descending into colloquialism. It is the style of 
the man of action, who aims at immediate effect, and who is careless 
of ornament or other superficial qualities. His words are half bat- 
tles. In discussing political questions he is admirable. His knowl- 
edge is unequaled in this field, and he magnetizes the dead fact with 
his rapid and graphic summaries of events. As a statistician he has 
few superiors, and he marshals figures in a most imposing array." 

IN CONGRESS. 

In 1848 Mr. Greeley served a short term in Congress. The day 
after his entering Congress he gave notice of his intention to bring 
in a bill to discourage speculation in the public lands and establish 
Homesteads for actual settlers. This bill was introduced December 
13, 1848. He next defended American manufacturers against the 
characterization of being "aristocrats" as charged in the President's 
message. On December 22 there appeared in the Tribune his famous 
expose of congressional mileage. On January 2, 1849, he offered a 
resolution asking for information on the Tariff of 1846 of duties 
on wool and hemp. January 10 he entered the arena against the slave 
trade of the District of Columbia, and busied himself with many re- 
form measures during his short term. Webster, Calhoun and Douglas 
were members of this same Congress. 

Mr. Greeley was a staunch friend and admirer of Henry Clay. 
He writes: "I profoundly loved Clay." He strongly advocated 

12 



Clay for the presidency. Greeley's influence was so much a part of 
this period of our country's history, and the lives of Clay, Lincoln, 
Greeley, and of other statesmen are so intertwined, that one cannot 
appreciate the life of either without studying the lives of the others. 

Mr. Greeley lectured frequently throughout the country on many 
subjects. He was a great favorite with the farmers and often spoke 
at country fairs. 

His advice, "Go West, Young Man!" was taken by many and 
proved to be a tremendous stimulus in developing and building up 
our vast domains west of the Mississippi. 

Mr. Greeley was intensely interested in agriculture and farm- 
ing. He writes: "I should have been a farmer. All my riper tastes 
incline to that blessed calling whereby the human family and its 
humble auxiliaries are fed. Its quiet, its segregation from strife, and 
brawls, and heated rivalries, attract and delight me." 

ON THE FARM. 

About the year 1852 Mr. Greeley bought a farm at Chappaqua, 
Westchester County, N. Y. Mrs. Greeley helped in its choice. This 
farm contained about 75 acres. It afforded Mr. Greeley rest, quiet, 
occupation, and pleasure, and was ever the spot that he loved. Mr. 
Greeley's daughter, Gabrielle Greeley Clendenin, still lives on 
the farm with her husband, the Rev. Dr. Frank M. Clendenin, and a 
daughter. 

Mrs. Nixola Greeley Smith Ford, a grand-daughter of Horace 
Greeley, has inherited a love for journalism in which she has made a 
splendid career. Dr. Horace Greeley and Ida Greeley Smith are grand- 
children of Horace Greeley. 

The beautiful little village of Chappaqua, made famous by 
Greeley, nestles among the Westchester hills as picturesque as ever. 
Here may be seen the two rows of evergreen trees set out by Horace 
Greeley himself. They have flourished and grown so tall that their 
branches touch and form a beautiful avenue of shade. 

WHEN LINCOLN WAS NOMINATED. 

In 1860 Abraham Lincoln was nominated by his party for Presi- 
dent. Horace Greeley's vigorous opposition to Seward, whose nom- 
ination had been counted a foregone conclusion, was the decisive 
factor that gave the nomination to Lincoln. Then came the Civil 
War in which Mr. Greeley's statesmanship and loyalty weighed 
heavily in favor of the Union cause. Greeley's historic appeal for 
Emancipation, addressed to President Lincoln through the columns 
of the Tribune, entitled "The Prayer of Twenty Millions." contained 
this impassioned request for freedom : 

13 



GREELEY'S DEMAND FOR EMANCIPATION 

"On the face of this wide earth, Mr. President, there is not one 
disinterested, determined, inteUigent champion of the Union cause 
who does not feel that all attempts to put down the Rebellion, and 
at the same time uphold its inciting cause, are preposterous and 
futile — that the Rebellion, if crushed out to-morrow, would be re- 
newed within a year if Slavery were left in full vigor — that army 
officers, who remain to this day devoted to Slavery, can at best be 
but half-way loyal to the Union — and that every hour of deference 
to Slavery is an hour of added and deepened peril to the Union. I 
appeal to the testimony of your Ambassadors in Europe. It is freely 
at your service, not mine. Ask them to tell you candidly whether the 
seeming subserviency of your policy to the slaveholding. Slavery — up- 
holding interest, is not the perplexity, the despair, of statesmen of all 
parties; and be admonished by the general answer! I close as I be- 
gan, with the statement that what an immense majority of the 
loyal millions of your countrymen require of you is a frank, declared, 
unqualified, ungrudging execution of the laws of the land, more 
especially of the Confiscation Act. That act gives freedom to the 
slaves of Rebels coming within our lines, or whom those lines may 
at any time enclose — we ask you to render it due obedience by pub- 
licly requiring all your subordinates to recognize and obey it. . . . 
As one of the millions who would gladly have avoided this struggle 
at any sacrifice but principle and honor, but who now feel that 
the triumph of the Union is indispensible not only to the existence of 
our country, but to the well-being of mankind, I entreat you to ren- 
der a hearty and unequivocal obedience to the law of the land. 

Yours, Horace Greeley. 

This letter made a profound impression upon the country and 
the President, and brought out a letter in reply, famous in the annals 
of the Civil War, and is here given in full : 

"Executive Mansion, Washington, August 22, 1862. 
"Hon. Horace Greeley: 

"Dear Sir: I have just read yours of the 19th, addressed to my- 
self through The New York Tribune. If there be in it any statements 
or assumptions of fact which I may know to be erroneous, I do not 
now and here controvert them. If there be in it any inferences which 
I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now and here argue against 
them. If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I 
waive it in deference to an old friend, whose heart I have always sup- 
posed to be right. 

"As to the policy I "seem to be pursuing,' as you say, I had not 
meant to leave any one in doubt. 

14 



"I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way 
under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be 
restored, the nearer the Union will be 'the Union as it was.' If there 
be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same 
time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who 
would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy 
slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this strug- 
gle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery. 
If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it; and 
if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could 
do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. 
What I do about slavery and the colored race I do because I believe 
it helps to save this Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do 
not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever 
I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more 
whenever I believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to cor- 
rect errors when shown to be errors ; and I shall adopt new views so 
fast as they shall appear to be true views. I have here stated my pur- 
pose according to my view of official duty, and I intend no modifica- 
tions of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men, everywhere, 
could be free. 

"Yours, 

"A. LINCOLN." 

In about a month from the time of Mr. Greeley's letter. Lincoln 
issued his "Emancipation Proclamation." 

ON SLAVERY. 

Of his battle against slavery one of his biographers says: "The 
colored race, when it becomes sufficiently educated to appreciate 
his career, must always recognize him as the chief author of t'neir 
emancipation from slavery and their equal citizenship." His constant 
warfare against slavery was well shown by his opposition to the 
Mexican War, because that meant the annexation of Texas as slave 
territory. From his own pen in the Tribune, we read: "He who 
by voice or pen strikes the best blow at the impostures and vices 
whereby our race is debased and paralyzed may close his eyes in 
death, consoled and cheered by the reflection that he has done what 
he could for the emancipation and elevation of his kind." 

Mr. Greeley's desire for a speedy close of the war was well-known 
and representatives of the Confederacy asked his good offices in this 
matter. Mr. Greeley communicated with President Lincoln, who ap- 
pointed him as a peace agent of the United States. Mr. Greeley, on 
finding that the Southern representatives were not clothed with ade- 
quate authority, dropped the matter; but the affair was nevertheless 

16 



useful, as it brought out President Lincoln's ultimatum that no nego- 
tiations would be considered except upon the basis of an absolute and 
unconditional surrender. 

After the close of the war Mr. Greeley signed Jefferson Davis' 
bail bond — a most heroic act for which at the time he was severely 
criticised. This was, however, in line with his policy for bringing 
about a spirit of reconciliation. 

To portray justly the great life and career of Horace Greeley, 
who, next to Benjamin Franklin, is the most typical American our 
country has produced, would require the writing of volumes. 
Indeed, the gentle Whittier delighted to call him 'Our Later Frank- 
lin." In summing up the magnificent career of so active and noble a 
life, we cannot do better than to quote the following passage from his 
book, "Recollections of a Busy Life": 

GIANT WRONGS. 

"My life has been busy and anxious, but not joyless. Whether 
it shall be prolonged few or more years, I am grateful that it has 
endured so long, and that it has abounded in opportunities for good 
not wholly unimproved and in experiences of the nobler, as well as 
the baser, impulses of human nature. 

"I have been spared to see the end of giant wrongs, which I once 
deemed invincible in this century, and to note the silent upspringing 
and growth of principles and influences which I hail as destined to 
root out some of the most flagrant and pervading evils that yet re- 
main. I realize that each generation is destined to confront new and 
peculiar perils — to wrestle with temptations and seductions unknown 
to its predecessors ; yet I trust that progress is a general law of our 
being, and that the ills and woes of the future shall be less crushing 
than those of the bloody and hateful past. 

"So, looking calmly, yet humbly, for that close of my mortal 
career which cannot be far distant, I reverently thank God for the 
blessings vouchsafed me in the past; and, with an awe that is not 
fear and a consciousness of demerit which does not exclude hope, 
await the opening before my steps of the gates of the Eternal World." 

Just as Greeley's love of mankind had prompted him to prevent 
vvar if he could; and, when it came, to have it prosecuted with relent- 
less vigor, that it might be as short as possible, so he was among the 
first when the war was ended to seek the reunion of the sections in 
the spirit of brotherly love. He fought for general amnesty for 
those lately in rebellion, for full suffrage to all men, and for a re- 
construction that would develop the industries of the North and 
South, laid prostrate by the war. 

16 



THE PRESIDENCY. 

When upon the question of reconstruction and the purifying of 
the public service the RepubHcan party had spHt, and the Liberal 
faction of that party had nominated Horace Greeley for President in 
1872, and he had also received the nomination of the Democrats, he 
deemed it his duty to enter upon the race feeling that, if successful, he 
could carry out his noble aims for the true unification of the country. 
He did not realize that his running upon a ticket supported by dis- 
cordant political parties must result in his defeat. The love and rever- 
ence the people had for him could not overcome so paradoxical an 
alliance, and the consequence was but natural. 

Horace Greeley's character is well epitomized in Reavis' Biog- 
raphy : 

"Go where you will, over the land. Go, if you please, to the 
capital of your country ; go to every department of administration 
and you will find Horace Greeley looking earnestly and unselfishly 
to direct the President and his Cabinet officers, or the Congiess of 
your country, in the honest and wise performance of their duties; 
go to the courts, you will find him urging judges to do justice, and 
enforce the law. Go to the high seas, and you will find him striving 
to better the condition of commerce, to make it more profitable and 
less perilous to those in its employ. Go to the manufacturer and 
the merchant, and there you will find him alike devoted in aiding 
to render each of those great branches of human industry more profit- 
able and reciprocal with each other. Go to the church and you will 
find him pleading with the ministers to deal less in forms and cere- 
monies, and more in principles and deeds of humanity. Go to the 
garret and the cellar, to the orphan and the pooi, you will hnd him 
there pleading for protection and plenty for the sons and daughters 
of misfortune and beggary, and asking the lawmaker, the wise, the 
rich, to see to it that none shall go wanting, in nakedness, and in 
hunger. Go to the schools and colleges and you will find him there, 
pleading for education for all; pleading for a more practical training 
and discipline of the sons and daughters of the land. Go to the in- 
habitant of the log cabin on the frontier, or in the wilderness of the 
great West, and you will find him there, the friend and benefactor of 
the farmer and mechanic, the herdsman and tradesmen, teaching all 
with like earnestness and devotion to right, as he does the wealthy 
and the great in the cities of civilization. For he is the same devoted 
and earnest friend to all whether 

' On the hilltops 
And in Pastures.' 

Go to the father and mother and you will find him there, pleading 
for a more practical training and education of the sons and daughters 

17 



of the land. Go to the criminal, the victim of the gutter, and the gal- 
lows, and you will find him there pleading for mercy, pleading for 
justice for those erring men and women who have been sinned 
against more than having sinned. In short, go to every field of 
honest toil, go to every form and avenue of misfortune and crime, 
and you will find that Horace Greeley has been there, earnestly and 
unselfishly striving to reform, to help, and to advance the interests of 
the individual, the community, society, church, the state, and the 
nation. Upon all these he has impressed with lasting honor his 
thoughts and deeds. Millions of human beings have been made wiser 
and better by the wisdom and teachings of Horace Greeley." 



"A PURE AND FAITHFUL SOUL. 
I. 

" Was there no other way than this, 
O faithful soul, to smite with silence those, 
Too base for friends, less generous than foes. 
The unrelenting pack 

That followed thee, and made along thy track 
The boor's coarse jest, the slimy serpent's hiss? — 
Was there no other way than this? 

II. 

" Ah, they to whom the hatred of a clan 
Seems nobler than the honesty of man 
Pause, startled at thy grave. 

And where they sought to ruin now would save ! 
Their jibes are heard no more 
And, stammering into truth, subsides the lie: 
For such a conquest, must thou die, 
When Life no less had made thee conqueror? 

in. 

" Too dear the price we pay 
Who saw thy patient purpose day by day 
Unfolded, that the full design might be 
Embodied Love, incarnate Charity, 
War's blotches washed away, 
And God's impartial justice shown in thee! 
We stood beside thee at thy post, 
And, knowing nearest, loved thee most: 
We would have given our bosoms for a shield 
Against the arrows sped 
To harm thy wise and gentle head. 
But in thy goodness thou wert triply steeled ! 

18 



We knew — as thou didst, never man forbore: 
We knew — as thou didst, never man forgave : 
Art still, O brain, high Duty's patient slave/ 
O heart, devoid of malice, beat'st no more? 

IV. 

" For all your silenced slanders, give us worse! 
Renew the loathsome noises of the fight, 
Forgetfulness of what he did, and spite 
Of party hate, the Nation's waxing curse, 
So ye for us preserve 

One honest man, like him, who will not swerve 
From, what the large heart dictates to the brain; 
Or, call him back again 
Who felt, where others planned ; 
Who cast away the mantle of a name 
And saw his naked nature turned to blame: 
Who narrower fealties beneath him trod, 
In stern consistency to God ! 
There is no child in all the land. 
But might have craved the blessing of his hand: 
There is no threshold but his feet 
Might cross, a messenger of counsel sweet. 
Of peace and patience and forgiving love. 
Of Toil that bends and Faith that looks above! 

V. 

" In vain! our cry is vain: 
We can but turn, pure soul, to thee again. 
So much of large beneficence thy mind 
For all the race designed. 
So much thy heart inclosed of brotherhood 
And ardent hope of good. 
Thou leavest us thyself in these behind ! 
We can not grieve as those who do not trust: 
We knew thee nearest, loved the most. 
And thou, a sacred ghost. 
Already risen from thy fallen dust, 
Speak'st, as of old, to us: 'Be firm, be pure, be just!' 

"Bayard Taylor. 

"Gotha, Germany, Dec. 1, 1872." 



19 



EXTRACTS FROM GREELEY'S WRITINGS 

Greeley on John Brown: 
"There will be enough to heap execration on the memory of 
these mistaken men. . . . Believing that the way to universal 
emancipation lies not through insurrection, civil war, and bloodshed, 
but through peace, discussion, and the quiet diffusion of sentiments 
of humanity and justice, we deeply regret this outbreak. But, re- 
membering that, if their fault was grievous, grievously have they 
answered it, we will not by one reproachful word disturb the bloody 
shrouds wherein John Brown and his compatriots are sleeping. They 
dared and died for what they felt to be the right, though in a manner 
which seems to us fatally wrong. Let their epitaphs remain unwrit- 
ten until the not distant day when no slave shall clank his chains in 
the shades of Monticello or by the groves of Mt. Vernon." 

From His "American Conflict": "^ 
"I offer it as my contribution toward a fuller and more vivid 
realization of the truth that God governs this world by moral laws 
as active, immutable, and all-pervading as can be operative in any 
other, and that every collusion or compromise with evil must surely 
invoke a prompt and signal retribution." 

He thus paints his ideal:' 
"A community or little world wherein all freely serve, and all are 
amply served; wherein each works according to his tastes or needs, 
and is paid for all he does or brings to pass; wherein education is free 
and common as air and sunshine ; wherein drones and sensualists 
cannot abide the social atmosphere, but are expelled by a quiet whole- 
some fermentation; wherein humbugs and charlatans find their level; 
and naught but actual service, tested by the severest ordeals, can 
secure approbation, and none but sterling qualities win esteem." 

Greeley on Education : 
"Every child should be trained to skill and efficiency in produc- 
tive labor, and the hours of children should be alternately devoted to 
labor, study, and recreation . . . not till one has achieved the full- 
est command, the most varied use of all his faculties and powers, 
can he be properly said to be educated." 

Greeley's "Hints toward Reforms": 
"A true life must be simple in all its elements. Animated by one 
grand and ennobling impulse, all lesser aspirations find their proper 
places in harmonious subservience. Simplicity in taste, in appetite, in 
habits of life, with a corresponding indifference to worldly honors 
and aggrandizement, is the natural result of the predominance of a 

20 



divine and unselfish idea. Under the guidance of such a sentiment, vir- 
tue is not an effort, but a law of nature, like gravitation. It is vice alone 
that seems unaccountable — monstrous — well nigh miraculous. Purity 
is felt to be as necessary to the mind as health to the body, and its 
absence alike the inevitable source of pain. " 

Horace Greeley's Advice to an Ambitious Young Man : 

"The best business you can go into j'ou will find on your father's 
farm, or in his workshop. If you have no family or friends to aid you, 
and no prospect opened to you there, turn your face to the Great 
West, and there build up a home and fortune. But dream not of 
getting suddenly rich by speculation, rapidly by trade, or anyhow 
by a profession: all these avenues are choked by eager, struggling 
aspirants, and ten must be trodden down in the press, where one can 
vault upon his neighbor's shoulders to honor or wealth. Above all, 
be neither afraid nor ashamed of honest industry; and if you catch 
yourself fancying anything more respectable than this, be ashamed 
of it to the last day of your life. Or, if you find yourself shaking 
more cordially the hand of your cousin the congressman than of your 
uncle the blacksmith, as such, write yourself down an enemy to the 
principles of cur institutions, and a traitor to the dignity of humanity." 

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 

The Penn Monthly, January, 1873, page 52: 

"His most singular service to the nation has received but very 
slight notic£ at the hands of his eulogists, and was but poorly appre- 
ciated during his life. \A,"e mean his unwearied assertion of the 
sanctities of family life as the basis of all society." 
National Quarterly Review, December, 1872, in an article on Hor- 
ace Greeley, said : 

' He had but one great aim — to promote by voice and pen the 
greatest good of the greatest number. . . . American slavery, in 
the days of its power, had no heartier hater than Horace Greeley, 
no more formidable foe; but yet when at last it lay crushed with the 
rebellion which it caused, there was no inconsistency in his advocacy 
of a general amnesty toward its old supporters. . . . And here 
we are reminded of that characteristic letter, which must ever re- 
main a conspicuous jewel in the life of this man: 

" 'My friend : Of course I threw away the senatorship in 1866 — 
knowing well that I did so — and did myself great pecuniary harm in 
1867 by bailing Jeff. Davis; but suppose I hadn't done either? 

" 'Either God rules this world, or does not. I believe he does. 

" 'Yours, 

" 'Horace Greeley.' ' 

3t 



"The picture of the Vermont boy, stretched upon the floor of 
his father's cabin reading by the light of the fire: the picture of the 
awkward "prentice lad stooping over his 'case' in a dingy New York 
printing office, while the busy thoughts in that large brain are setting 
up matter for future articles; the picture of the great editor dealing 
forth his vehement fulminations against the constituted powers of 
evil, and making his vigorous appeals to the moral sense of the peo- 
ple ; the picture of the genial old man whose face, full of 'sweetness 
and light,' is bent over a copy of the journal in which the heart, the 
thought, the work of his life are embodied, and finally the picture of 
the defeated candidate, led from the grave of his dead wife, himself 
doomed to swifter following death: these are pictures which will 
long hold their place in the American heart, and become the theme 
of many a lesson to the schoolboy of the future." 

Bayard Taylor's Address: 
"A life like his cannot be lost. That sleepless intelligence is 
not extinguished, though the brain which was its implement is here 
slowly falling to dust; that helping and forbearing love continues, 
though the heart which it quickened is cold. He lives, not only in 
the mysterious realm where some power and grander form of activity 
awaited him, but also as an imperishable influence in the peopl>j. 
Something of him has been absorbed in a multitude of other lives, 
and will be transmitted to their seed. His true monument is as 
broad as the land he served. This, which you have erected over his 
ashes, is the least memorial of his life. But it stands as he himself 
loved to stand, on a breezy knoll, where he could bathe his brow in 
the shadows of branches and listen to the music of their leaves." 



22 



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